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1934-35 NHL season
The 1934-35 NHL season was the 18th season of the National Hockey League. Nine teams each played 48 games. The Montreal Maroons were the Stanley Cup winners as they swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in three games in the final series. League Business With financial difficulties continuing for the Senators, the franchise was transferred to St. Louis changing the nickname to St. Louis Eagles. The team was not profitable in St. Louis, either, partly due to the extended travel of being located in the Canadian Division. The Eagles would sell players Syd Howe and Ralph "Scotty" Bowman to Detroit for $50,000 to make ends meet. Montreal Canadiens owners Leo Dandurand and Joseph Cattarinich would sell the team to Ernest Savard and Maurice Forget of the Canadian Arena Company. Penalty shots were introduced this season. Armand Mondou of the Montreal Canadiens took the first one on November 10, 1934 against George Hainsworth of the Toronto Maple Leafs, resulting in a save by Hainsworth. Training Camps *Boston Bruins: Quebec City, Quebec *Chicago Black Hawks: Champaign, Illinois *Detroit Red Wings: Detroit, Michigan *Montreal Canadiens: Saint John, New Brunswick *Montreal Maroons: Winnipeg, Manitoba *New York Americans: Oshawa, Ontario *New York Rangers: Winnipeg, Manitoba *St. Louis Eagles: Ottawa, Ontario *Toronto Maple Leafs: Galt, Ontario Regular Season Charlie Conacher decided to play coy this year and Conn Smythe had trouble signing him. With Harvey Jackson out, it looked as though only Joe Primeau would be the only member of the Kid line in action for Toronto. However, he did finally sign. Conacher responded with his best season, scoring 36 goals and leading the league in scoring. A bombshell trade was made with Howie Morenz, Lorne Chabot, and Marty Burke going to Chicago for Leroy Goldsworthy, Roger Jenkins, and Lionel Conacher. The Canadiens then traded Lionel Conacher and Herb Cain to the Maroons for Nels Crutchfield. The trades did not help and the Canadiens lost some fans. Meanwhile, Tommy Gorman bought a share of the Montreal Maroons from James Strachan and when he picked up Alex Connell, he had another winner. Although Morenz wasn't his old self, he did help Chicago, who finished second in the American Division, just falling short of Boston by only one point. During the third period of the December 11, 1934 match versus the Boston Bruins, Nels Stewart and Lloyd Klein are given match penalties for a stick-swinging fight. Boston's Stewart received a 1 game suspension while Klein got 3 games. The playoffs continued to elude the New York Americans, but they added two important additions, left wing Dave "Sweeney" Schriner and right wing Lorne Carr. Teamed with centre Art Chapman, the Americans were on the way up. Numerous Montreal Canadiens players wore high numbers for the first time in NHL history. Joe Lamb was the first to wear #99 and Roger Jenkins wore #88. Final Standings Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold Scoring Leaders Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes Stanley Cup Playoffs Playoff Bracket The most pulsating series was that of Chicago and the Montreal Maroons. Chicago coach Clem Loughlin said that the team who won the series very likely would win the Stanley Cup. Neither team scored after two regulation games. In the overtime, Dave Trottier was cut and retired for stitches. He'd hardly arrived in the dressing room when Baldy Northcott scored the goal that won the series for the Maroons. The Rangers outlasted the Montreal Canadiens on Bill Cook's goal in the deciding game. He'd been knocked goofy by the Canadiens Nels Crutchfield, but wasn't too groggy to win the series for the Rangers. Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Boston Bruins 1 In a repeat of two years before, the league's two best teams met in the second round of the playoffs, both teams having received byes in the first round. Although two games went into overtime, the Leafs had an easier time beating the Bruins than in the 1933 playoffs and held them to just two goals in the series. Game 1 was a close checking affair with the only goal scored by Dit Clapper at 13:26 of the second OT period giving the Bruins their only win of the series and Tiny Thompson the shutout. Game 2 was scoreless until goals from Charlie Conacher and Busher Jackson in the third period carried the Leafs to a 2-0 victory and tied the series 1-1. Game 3 saw the Leafs score goals in each period on goals by Bill Thoms, Nick Metz and Busher Jackson to lead the Leafs to a 3-0 win. George Hainsworth posted his second shutout of the series. Game 4 saw the Bruins lead for the first time in the series on a first period goal by Jack Beattie. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Leafs Baldy Cotton scored with the Bruins Babe Siebert in the box, but the goal was disallowed as Cotton was in the crease. Arguments ensued and a bench-clearing brawl broke out with Siebert leaving the penalty box to join in. When order was restored, the Leafs had a 4 on 3 Power play and at 18:11, "Pep" Kelly tied it up. Kelly then took a late penalty and overtime started with the teams playing 3 men aside. In overtime, once Kelly's penalty was served, he jumped out of the box, retrieved the puck behind the Bruins next, wheeled out front and scored at 1:36 to win the series for the Leafs. The Leafs would lose the Stanley Cup finals to the Montreal Maroons. Finals The Montreal Maroons throttled the Kid line of Primeau, Jackson and Conacher and goaltender Alex Connell time and again foiled sure goals for Toronto, and the Maroons won the series 3 games to none, and as game three ended, the crowd let out a roar of approval and Connell leaned back on the crossbar and cried. All of the Maroons' games ended in ties or victories, making them the last team until the 1951-52 Detroit Red Wings to not lose a single game during the playoffs. The Maroons were also the last non-Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers won it in 1974. :see 1935 Stanley Cup Finals NHL Awards All-Star Teams Debuts The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1934-35 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs): *Tommy Anderson, Detroit Red Wings *Bucko McDonald, Detroit Red Wings *Sweeney Schriner, New York Americans *Lynn Patrick, New York Rangers *Toe Blake, Montreal Maroons *Bill Cowley, St. Louis Eagles *Art Jackson, Toronto Maple Leafs *Bob Davidson, Toronto Maple Leafs *Nick Metz, Toronto Maple Leafs Last Games The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1934-35 (listed with their last team): *John Ross Roach, Detroit Red Wings *Albert Leduc, Montreal Canadiens *Alex Smith, New York Americans *Charley McVeigh, New York Americans *Normie Himes, New York Americans Gallery 27Jan1935-Bert_Connelly_Al_Murray.jpg|Rangers Bert Connelly trips over Americans Al Murray on January 27, 1935. Video Game 1 of the quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden on March 24, 1935, is remembered for its high level of physicality. In one sequence, an injured Earl Seibert of the New York Rangers is carried off the ice. Later, Nels Crutchfield of the Montreal Canadiens swings his stick into the head of Rangers captain Bill Cook. As a result, Cook collapses to the ice and a bench-clearing brawl ensues. Cook returns to the ice wearing a helmet and scores the game-winning goal in a 2-1 decision. Game 2 was tied 4-4 and the Rangers won the total goals series 6-5. New York Rangers Overcome Brawl to Defeat Montreal Canadiens (1935) See Also *List of Stanley Cup champions References *Hockey Database *NHL.com